Info Catalog lilypond-learning: Setting simple songs lilypond-learning: Songs lilypond-learning: Lyrics to multiple staves

lilypond-learning: Aligning lyrics to a melody

 
 2.3.2 Aligning lyrics to a melody
 ---------------------------------
 
DONTPRINTYET  Music Glossary: (music-glossary)melisma, *noteDONTPRINTYET  Music Glossary: (music-glossary)melisma, 
 (music-glossary)extender line.
 
    The next line in the nursery rhyme is The moon doth shine as bright
 as day.  Let’s extend it:
 
      <<
        \relative c'' {
          \key g \major
          \time 6/8
          d4 b8 c4 a8 | d4 b8 g4 g8 |
          a4 b8 c b a | d4 b8 g4. |
        }
        \addlyrics {
          Girls and boys come | out to play,
          The | moon doth shine as | bright as day; |
        }
      >>
      [image src="" alt="[image of music]" text="image of music"]
 
    If you compile the code in the example above, you should see some
 warnings in the console output:
 
      song.ly:12:29: warning: barcheck failed at: 5/8
          The | moon doth shine as
                                   | bright as day; |
      song.ly:12:46: warning: barcheck failed at: 3/8
          The | moon doth shine as | bright as day;
                                                    |
 
    This is a good example of the usefulness of bar checks.  Now, looking
 at the music, we see that the extra lyrics do not align properly with
 the notes.  The word shine should be sung on two notes, not one.  This
 is called a melisma, a single syllable sung to more than one note.
 There are several ways to spread a syllable over multiple notes, the
 and slurs:::
 
      <<
        \relative c'' {
          \key g \major
          \time 6/8
          d4 b8 c4 a8 | d4 b8 g4 g8 |
          a4 b8 c( b) a | d4 b8 g4. |
        }
        \addlyrics {
          Girls and boys come | out to play,
          The | moon doth shine as | bright as day; |
        }
      >>
      [image src="" alt="[image of music]" text="image of music"]
 
    The words now line up correctly with the notes, but the automatic
 beaming for the notes above shine as does not look right.  We can
 correct this by inserting manual beaming commands to override the
 automatic beaming here, for details, see Automatic and manual
 beams.
 
      <<
        \relative c'' {
          \key g \major
          \time 6/8
          d4 b8 c4 a8 | d4 b8 g4 g8 |
          a4 b8 c([ b]) a | d4 b8 g4. |
        }
        \addlyrics {
          Girls and boys come | out to play,
          The | moon doth shine as | bright as day; |
        }
      >>
      [image src="" alt="[image of music]" text="image of music"]
 
    As an alternative to using slurs, the melismata may be indicated in
 just the lyrics by using an underscore ‘_’ for each note that should be
 included in the melisma:
 
      <<
        \relative c'' {
          \key g \major
          \time 6/8
          d4 b8 c4 a8 | d4 b8 g4 g8 |
          a4 b8 c[ b] a | d4 b8 g4. |
        }
        \addlyrics {
          Girls and boys come | out to play,
          The | moon doth shine _ as | bright as day; |
        }
      >>
      [image src="" alt="[image of music]" text="image of music"]
 
    If a syllable extends over several notes or a single very long note
 an extender line is usually drawn from the syllable extending under all
 the notes for that syllable.  It is entered as two underscores ‘__’.
 Here is an example from the first three bars of Dido’s Lament, from
 Purcell’s Dido and Æneas:
 
      <<
        \relative c'' {
          \key g \minor
          \time 3/2
          g2 a bes | bes2( a) b2 |
          c4.( bes8 a4. g8 fis4.) g8 | fis1
        }
        \addlyrics {
          When I am | laid,
          am | laid __ in | earth,
        }
      >>
      [image src="" alt="[image of music]" text="image of music"]
 
    None of the examples so far have involved words containing more than
 one syllable.  Such words are usually split one syllable to a note, with
 hyphens between syllables.  Such hyphens are entered as two dashes,
 resulting in a centered hyphen between the syllables.  Here is an
 example showing this and everything we have learned so far about
 aligning lyrics to notes.
 
      <<
        \relative c' {
          \key g \major
          \time 3/4
          \partial 4
          d4 | g4 g a8( b) | g4 g b8( c) |
          d4 d e | c2
        }
        \addlyrics {
          A -- | way in a __ | man -- ger,
          no __ | crib for a | bed, __
        }
      >>
      [image src="" alt="[image of music]" text="image of music"]
 
    Some lyrics, especially those in Italian, require the opposite:
 setting more than one syllable to a single note.  This is achieved by
 linking the syllables together with a single underscore ‘_’ (with no
 spaces), or enclosing them in quotes.  Here’s an example from Rossini’s
 Figaro, where al has to be sung on the same note as the go of Largo in
 Figaro’s aria Largo al factotum:
 
      <<
        \relative c' {
          \clef "bass"
          \key c \major
          \time 6/8
          c4.~ c8 d b | c8([ d]) b c d b | c8
        }
        \addlyrics {
          Lar -- go_al fac -- | to -- tum del -- la cit -- | tà
        }
      >>
      [image src="" alt="[image of music]" text="image of music"]
 
 
 See also
 ........
 
    Notation Reference: (lilypond-notation)Vocal music.
 

Info Catalog lilypond-learning: Setting simple songs lilypond-learning: Songs lilypond-learning: Lyrics to multiple staves